Danger Ahead
 

This is significant, because the warranties for most American car engines do not extend to ethanol concentrations beyond 10%.

At risk:

Small engines such as chain saws and lawn mowers. Also our vintage cars and anything not specifically designed to operate on flex fuels.

Please do not make replies with a Political leaning. I want to keep this thread up for informational purposes.


Here: https://archive.ph/V0ltj


RISKS are well known: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/th...nol-2013-07-16

I always buy non E for my small engine stuff and even in my cars, but boy is it expensive. I was talking to my bro about buying Non e for his small engine stuff and was explaining the damage ethanol has on small engine, he had no idea and I believe he is not in the minority.
Makes me think I should buy a small engine repair shop!

Its weird because on the farm in the 80s-90s all we bought was E10 and we never ever had any problems with any engine, whether it be a chainsaw that sat for 3 years with gas in the carb and tank or all 3 classic cars that had factory everything for fuel systems... Today I do buy non E for the small 2 strokes

What I find funny is they are only talking about 15% ethanol from what I read in the first couple paragraphs.

The funny part is the 10% we are supposed to have now I've tested with those cheap internet kits to be as high as 17% anyway at some stations. And that was 20+ years ago. It was never regulated that closely then and I doubt it has been since.

So in all honesty you never really know what you're getting at the 10% ethanol pumps. From my experience it seems to fluctuate. I've never seen it below 10% but as high as 17% :dunno:

So maybe 15% will mean we may actually see 22% at times?? Eh

I've been running the 10% ethanol for decades as it got harder to find stations with real gas. Since we daily drive classics the solution was to jet up the carbs a pinch since 10% ethanol stoich is 14:1, not the typical 14.7:1. That also means I have to go in and modify the idle circuitry by opening the idle feed restrictors a couple thou so the engines are happier, especially at colder temps. This has returned excellent drivability.

The other thing I've done for decades is mix a pinch of 2 cycle engine oil in the gas. I use an ounce per 5 gallons of fuel. This gives the fuel some lubricity and lubricates the upper engine, valve seats, rings, etc... Since fuel doesn't have lead anymore. I have a very good feeling this helps fight corrosion as well in the fuel system that is so common with ethanol based fuels.

I've been doing this for decades and I haven't had a single fuel related failure, even on the daily drivers. My bird is still running a 23 year old mechanical fuel pump, the Z has been going strong for 6 years now and over 50,000 miles. Between the 2 of them we have logged well over 100,000 miles in the last few years.. Some of my other classics sit a lot, and haven't shown any signs of a problem either.

I haven't worried about it with the small engine lawn equipment stuff and don't do anything special there. No complaints.

In my experience it is simpler to just use Stabil in fuel it works wonders.

If I do a split mix of 110 race fuel you would not believe the difference in in the way the engine cools.. FACT.:beers:

x2 on the 50/50 mix with non ethanol.

As stated previously about the need to richen the jetting due to the LEAN ethanol blended Fuel. This is especially true on 1972 model GM's which leaned the jetting out in order to cut emissions, for example with the LT1 the primary jetting went from a 70 1971 to a 68 primary in 1972.
With a leaner fuel PLUS leaner jets you really get lean on the mixture which also makes the engine run hotter.

Yep, my 72 Z was jetted like that. The same as our 69 Z with a much smaller engine (68's in the primaries). Which just shows the direction they were going.

I currently run a stagger jet setup in our 69 Z with it's 302. 72 primary on the driver side and 70 primary on the passenger side. I generally stagger the rear the same but currently just have 76's in both rear. A track day I'll change it.

Living at 5,000 feet elevation this actually returns very good drivability and respectable gas mileage (15 around town) and is slightly on the rich side. A good thing since we drive it down to sea level semi regularly and I know the engine is safe there, I don't have to fool with it. With the 5 speed it gets just over 21 mpg highway.

X33rs are you talking 21mpg with the 69 Z???

I have seen a 14% ethanol blend score the cyl/piston on a new chainsaw. Just an FYI.

Somewhat related subject - I was wondering how commercial airlines were going to go "green". Read an article yesterday about them running 100% on fuel from corn distillation - maybe ethanol?